How Cord Banking Works
A Six Step Process
Collecting your baby’s cord blood and tissue only takes a few minutes but offers peace of mind for a lifetime.
We have made the stem cell collection process as simple as possible so that you can focus on your baby during and after birth. Everything needed is in your umbilical cord blood Collection Kit, including instructions to share with your birthing partner and the healthcare professional who will collect your cord blood, cord tissue and maternal blood sample. If you have any questions, please call us. We’re here to support you at every stage.
1. Order your kit
2. Prepare for the big day
Update Your Birth Plan
When you feel fully informed and happy about the collection process, pack your Collection Kit with your hospital bag, ready for the big day. Don’t forget to include the educational material and instructions in case a different midwife or phlebotomist attends your birth.
Next your birthing partner should contact the phlebotomist as soon as you go into labour, keeping in touch with them as you progress. When your baby’s cord blood has been collected your birthing partner should contact us at Biovault Family so we can arrange a courier to transport your cord blood, cord tissue and maternal blood sample to our laboratory.
3. Welcome new life
How to Collect the Stem Cells
Only when your midwife is satisfied that you and your baby are well will your baby’s cord blood and cord tissue be collected. The process is simple and can be done before or after your placenta has been delivered and the umbilical cord clamped and cut. There is no need for early clamping, and your partner can still cut your baby’s umbilical cord.
Using simple instructions inside the collection kit, your midwife, doctor or phlebotomist will collect and label your cord blood, cord tissue and maternal blood sample ready for transportation to our laboratory in the pre-paid thermally insulated package.
4. Testing & processingSend Your Samples to Biovault Family’s Stem Cell Bank
When you and your baby are safe and your samples have been collected, your birthing partner should follow the simple instructions inside your Collection Kit to notify your courier who will deliver your samples directly to our laboratory.
On arrival, your samples are transferred to a sterile environment and given a unique barcode. Your umbilical cord blood stem cells are then processed, tested for microbiological contamination and stem cell concentration.
5. Results & storage
When our scientists are happy that your baby’s stem cells are healthy and plentiful they will be stored in tamper-evident bags labelled, frozen and preserved in vapour phase liquid nitrogen in our UK based, stem cell banking laboratory.
Cord blood and tissue is processed and stored for future use. The stem cells are extracted only if/when they are medically required.
6. Protect their future
We keep you informed at every stage of the collection process. We will call you when your baby’s cord blood and tissue has been successfully stored and sending you a full set of test results. Finally, we send you your baby’s unique storage certificate as an assurance that their extraordinary stem cells are safe and secure.
How Long Can Cord Blood be Stored?
You can choose tissue and cord blood banking for 25 or 50 years.
What's included
What’s in the kit?
When your cord blood stem cell collection kit arrives you’ll find some educational information and instructions to share with your birthing partner, midwife and, if applicable, the phlebotomist who will collect your samples.
What does a cord blood collection kit contain?
Each kit is carefully checked in our laboratory before we send it to you and shouldn’t be opened until it is needed. Our Collection Kits are registered with MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency).
For those with a healthy curiosity, this is what your healthcare professional will find inside:
- Cord blood collection bag
- Sterile swab
- Gauze swab
- Tube clamp
- Cord collection kit (if required)
- Drape to preserve sterile environment
- Maternal blood sample kit
- Temperature monitoring probe